1. Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to an apparatus and a method for registering a mobile terminal as a temporary subscriber of a small base station.
2. Discussion of the Background
In a wireless communication system, a channel may be in a poor state due to is geographical conditions for a cell, a distance between a terminal and a base station, or movement of a terminal, and as a result, a communication between a terminal and a base station may not be carried out well. In particular, if the terminal is located in a closed building, such as an office or a home, a state of a channel between a terminal and a base station degrades, resulting in a dead zone. A terminal placed in the dead zone is not capable of establishing a communication with a base station.
A picocell solution has been introduced to eliminate an indoor dead zone, and a femtocell solution has also been suggested to provide a larger amount of people with a higher level of data service and to eliminate an indoor dead zone. The femtocell has a smaller cell area than a macrocell, and one macrocell may have a plurality of femtocells included therein.
The femtocell has a smaller coverage than an existing wireless communication coverage, and a coverage of the femtocell is in a range that enables the femtocell to serve a single home. If a femto base station is connected to a wired Internet Protocol (IP) network in a home, a mobile terminal is capable of using a wireless communication service freely via the femto base station.
Advantageously, the femtocell also eliminates a dead zone where a wireless communication service is not available, and utilizes an indoor communication infrastructure for wired or wireless coverage. However, it is difficult to limit a coverage of the femtocell only to a home in which a femtocell base station is installed in a femtocell wireless communication environment. A radio signal of the femto base station may arrive at adjacent buildings, and in some instances, a mobile terminal in adjacent buildings may use a wireless communication service via the femtocell. This is similar to a case in which a radio signal of a wireless local area network (LAN) access point installed in a home reaches adjacent buildings and a computer in an is adjacent building can access the wireless LAN access point, and similar problems may occur accordingly.
Some users may not want an external mobile terminal or computer to access a femto base station or a wireless LAN access point installed in the users' home and use a communication service via the wireless LAN access point. In case of a femtocell wireless communication, accessing a femto base station may negatively affect various charging policies of a wireless communication service provider. There is a need to keep an unauthorized user from using a wireless communication service via a femtocell.
Thus, a user of a mobile terminal needs to be registered as an authorized subscriber to use a wireless communication service via a femtocell. However, if the user wants to receive a wireless communication service in a coverage of a femtocell to which the user did not subscribe, the user should make a request to an operator of the femtocell for registration as a temporary subscriber and is then registered as a temporary subscriber.